Nepal raises retail fuel price, stoking inflation fears

Nepal's state-owned oil company has hiked the retail prices for fuels, including petrol and cooking gas, by up to 12.5% because of rising global oil prices, an official said on Monday, stoking concerns consumer inflation will be further pushed up, reports Reuters.

State monopoly Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) said in a statement that the price for one litre of petrol was raised 5.8 per cent to 180 Nepali rupees ($1.45) from 170 rupees a week earlier.

The price for a 15.4 kg cylinder of cooking gas was increased 12.5 per cent to 1,800 Nepali rupees from 1,600 rupees earlier, it said.

Nepali people are facing a surge in food and energy prices as annual retail inflation accelerated to a five-year high of 7.28 per cent in the month through mid-April and could further rise this month after fuel prices were revised twice within two weeks.

Spiralling inflation in the poor Himalayan nation of 29 million raises the risk of social unrest as imports of goods like fuel, coal and edible oil become costlier.